I was so impressed with the UConn head coach's comments recently about the current attitude of many players and parents and the inconsistency year to year in programs resulting, too, in ill service to the athletes. He demands an unselfish attitude and contribution to his program. So far they've only lost one player from his team to the portal, a guy with almost no playing time. I hope Coach Young builds an attitude like this at BYU, and the length of his contract - 7 years - sends a good opening message.

Players who use BYU as a stepping stone usually discover that the grass is NOT greener. Do we need to cite all the many examples? It makes you wonder who they are taking their advice from. This increasingly will be the case as we build an NBA-feeder program - Coach Young's goal.

It makes zero sense, for example, for Jaxon Robinson to leave at this early point in his prime development for the NBA. And if Richie Saunders goes to Kentucky, he's starting with a team that is not a team - virtually no core players. So his first year is one hard struggle. He may shine the next year, his senior year, but if he stayed at BYU he's got a core group of guys he's already familiar with and a coach that is second to none in NBA development and preparation. And as good as he was, Ali couldn't help BYU as a basketball program long-term. He's basically a journeyman athlete - from one perspective, not a college student seeking a degree with his feet in one place prepared to grow.

But the allure of the grass somewhere else is always there...

Even in the age of easy transfers and NIL, every athlete will benefit from reading the classic address: "Acres of Diamonds."